Adjustable fastening device



July 10, 1951 R. c. LEGAT 2,559,333

ADJUSTABLE FASTENING DEVICE Filed March 19, 1949 wmvsss INVENTOR. p r BYIYEOEE/ETIGILEQHT.

' ATTORNEY Patented Jilly 10, 1951 ADJUSTABLE FASTENING DEVICE Robert C.Legat, New Britain, Conn., assignor to The G. E. Prentice Mfg. 00.,Kensington, Cnn.,

a corporation of Connecticut Application March 19, 1949, Serial No.82,454

4 Claims. 1

This invention relates to devices for adjustably fastening two articlestogether, or two pieces of the same article, and more particularly, toan adjustable fastening device of the type disclosed in Patent No.1,838,463, issued to N. Statham, December 29, 1931. In the indicatedtype of fastener, a slider attached to one part to be fastened ismovable along a flexible track which is attached to the second part tobe fastened, and such slider is secured at any desired point on thetrack by means of a releasable clamping or locking member.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide in afastening device of the indicated type, an improved slider which can bemore firmly and positively secured in position on the track and whichwill not inadvertently slip from such position when subjected to highstresses tending to cause slipping of the slider, such as areencountered in the use of the device on mens belts and womens slacks.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a slider of theindicated type, a simple and rugged locking means which will make theslider especially suitable for use in mens belts and view taken alongthe line 3--3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4,

is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of Fig. 2 and illustratesthe construction of a preferred form of the slider; Fig. 5 is a top plana view of the parts shown in Fig. 4 with the clamp shown in releasedposition; Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the body of the slider; Fig. 7 is.a top plan view of a modified form of clamp for the slider and Fig. 8is a .rear plan view of the clamping member shown in Fig. 7..

In the drawings, the reference numeral I'll designates a portion offabric which may form a part of the belt of a womans slacks. Provided onthe fabric I8 is a series of elements II forming a track for the sliderI2 and adapted to be engaged by the locking means in the slider tosecure thelatter in a definite position on such track. As will be notedin Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, the elements II which are arrangedin spaced relation on the fabric, are each constituted of a tion and endportions which are bent under a longitudinally extending, raised portionof the fabric to connect the element to such fabric portion. .As will beseen more clearly in Fig. 3 of the drawings, the end portions of eachelement I I incline upwardly and outwardly to enable the slider I2 to beslidably secured to the track formed by such elements 'I 'I. Thestraight central portion of the clips or elements II cooperate with'thelocking means of the slider I2 to secure the slider in a predeterminedposition on the track formed by such elements I I,:as will hereinafterbe explained.

The slider I2 comprises a body portion I3 which is generally C-sh-apedin cross section to enable its longitudinal side edges to engage beneaththe outer central portions of the elements H and against the inclinedend portions of such elements and thereby be secured in sliding relationto the track. The body portion l3 has up standing ears I' l, I4 whichare provided with aligned bearing apertures to pivotally support thetrunnions I5, I 5 provided on the clamp or locking element designatedgenerally by the numeral IS. The clampd 6 comprises a finger or tabportion I! which is manually manipulatable to move the slider I2 alongthe track and to secure the slider Y in a predetermined position on thetrack when the fabric ID, as for example, one end of a belt portion.

It will be understood from the foregoing, that in the operation of thisfastening device, the finger piece I of the clamp I6 is actuated by theuser short piece of wire having a central straight "per-= to cause theslider I2 to move longitudinally along the track of elements II toadjust the pieces of material connected to the track and slider relativeto each other, as for example, in the opening or closing of a belt; thelongitudinal movements of the slider being limited by means of end stopsI9, 20. When, as in the closing of a belt, the slider I 2 is moved to aposition with relation to the track that gives a proper fit of the beltto the user, the clamping member I6 is moved downwardly to the positionshown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings. Theclarnpingmember I6is'provided at its pivoted end with a locking lug Hand in the embodimentshown in Figs. 1 to of the drawings, with a pair of aligned locking lugs22, 22 spaced back from lug 2| and connected to the shank portion 23 ofthe clamp member. It will be noted from Fig. 4 of the drawings, that thelugs 22, 22 are spaced from the lug 2| a distance equal to approximatelytwice the width of the spaces intermediate the track elements so thatwhen clamp member i6 is moved to locking position, there will becontained two track elements between such lugs, and the latter willenter into the spaces adjacently bordering such two elements. The shankportion 23 intermediate the lugs 2| and 22, 22 is substantially parallelto the finger piece H of the clamp member, so that when such member ismoved to locking position, the lugs 2| and 22, 22 will substantiallysimultaneously move to locking position between the track elements II.It will also be noted from Fig. 4 of the drawings, that lugs 22, 22 aresubstantially perpendicular to the shank portion 23 of the clamp member,while lug 2| is disposed with respect to such shank portion, at an anglegreater than ninety degree and carries the trunnions l5, l5. Thus, thelug 2| extends outwardly from the axis of rotation of trunnions l5, l5at an angle greater than the angle between the shank portion 23 and aplane passed through the pivotal axis of the clamp member at rightangles to the shank portion 23. Thus, when the lug 2| is in lockedposition, the clamp member IE will be maintained locked in horizontalposition until positively moved from such position preparatory to movingthe slider I2 to a new position on the track of elements I Thismaintaining of the clamping member IS in locking position, is doublyassured by turning in the upper corners 24, 24 of the ears l4, M in theregion of the looking lugs 22, 22, so that as the shank 23 thereof movespast such corners 24, 24 when moving the clamping member to closedposition, such corners will yieldingly give and then return to lock theshank 23 over the lugs 22, 22 between the ears l4, Id.

The construction of the clamping member |6' illustrated in Figs. '7 and8 is similar to that of clamp Hi, except that instead of having twolooking lugs 22, 22, it is provided with a single looking log 22 formedby stamping out the material of the shank portion 23' of such member.The clamping member l6 however, functions in a manner similar toclamping member l6.

While I have illustrated and described preferred embodiments of myinvention, it will be evident to those skilled in the art that changesand modifications may be made therein without departing from the spiritof the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In an adjustable fastening device for securement to two parts andhaving a track provided with a plurality of spaced stop elements secureddirectly to one of such parts and a slider seoured to the other of suchparts and slidably mounted on said track for adjustably securing the twoparts together, a clamp pivotally connected at one end to the slider andhaving an outer finger portion and a shank portion intermediate saidpivoted end and said finger portion, a locking lug on the pivoted end ofsaid clamp adapted to engage said track and a second locking lug on saidshank portion adjacent to said finger portion and spaced from said firstmentioned locking lug so as to engage said track at a pointlongitudinally spaced from the point of engagement of said firstmentioned lug with the track, said locking lugs thereof engage with saidtrack to lock the slider in position on the latter the space betweensaid lugs being wider than the combined width of two stop elements andthe space therebetween, means pivotally supporting said locking memberfor movement about a fixed axis, one of the legs of said locking memberextending radially from such fixed axis and the other of said legs beingspaced longitudinally from such fixed axis, and a finger piece fixedlyconnected to said locking member and manually operable to move saidmember into and out of locking engagement with said track, said otherleg of said locking member being located on the finger piece side ofsaid fixed axis.

3. In an adjustable fastening device for securement to two parts andhaving a track provided with a plurality of spaced stop elements secureddirectly to one of such parts and a slider secured to the other of suchparts and slidably mounted on said track for adjustably securing the twoparts together, an actuating member connected at one end to the sliderand having a shank portion and an outer finger portion, a locking lug onthe connected end of said member adapted to engage said track, a secondlocking lug on said shank portion adjacent to said finger portion andspaced from said first mentioned locking lug so as to engage said trackat a point longitudinally spaced from the point of engagement of saidfirst mentioned lug with the track, said locking lugs and theintermediate part of said shank portion spanning a portion of said trackgreater in length than the combined Width of two stop elements and thespace therebetween, a pair of bearing supports provided on said slider,and a pair of trunnions provided on said first mentioned locking lug androtatably mounted on said bearing supports, said second locking lugbeing located on the finger piece side of the pivotal axis of saidtrunnions.

4. In an adjustable fastening device for securement to two parts andhaving a track provided with a plurality of spaced stop elements secureddirectly to one of such parts and a slider secured to the other of suchparts and slidably mounted on said track for adjustably securing the twoparts together, an actuating member connected at one end to the sliderand having a shank portion and an outer finger portion, a locking lug onthe connected end of said member adapted to engage said track, a secondlocking lug on said shank portion spaced from said first mentionedlocking lug and adapted to engage said track at a point longitudinallyspaced from the point of engagement of said first mentioned lug with thetrack, said locking lugs and the intermediate parts of said shankportion spanning a portion of said track greater in length than thecombined width of two stop elements and the space therebetween, a pairof upstanding longitudinally extending ears provided on said slider andadapted to receive said shank portion therebetween when the actuatingmember is moved to locking position, a pair of trunnions provided onsaid actuating member and rotatably mounted on the forward ends of saidears, said second locking lug being located on the finger piece side ofthe pivotal axis of said trunnions, and latch resilient members on theother ends of said ears adapted to yieldingly engage with opposite sidesof said shank portion in the region of said second mentioned locking lugto maintain the latter in locked position until positively removedtherefrom.

ROBERT C. LEGAT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,838,463 Statham Dec. 29, 19311,887,825 Statham Nov. 15, 1932 1,887,826 Statham Nov. 15, 1932 102,437,765 Statham Mar. 16, 1948

